Russia has not lived up to its hype. After nine years of independence and tens of billions of dollars in international assistance -- not to mention voluminous foreign advice -- Russia is far from having met the expectations of a bright future so widespread in 1991, the time of the fall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rather, Russia remains a poor, semi-authoritarian country -- a considerable disappointment.
Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation just over a year ago rekindled long-frustrated hopes for rapid improvement. Instead of the ailing and erratic Yeltsin, who appeared to lack both the will and the political muscle to advance a radical reform agenda in his last years in office, Russia would have a younger, more vigorous leader backed by a newly supportive parliament. In fact, on Vladimir Putin's first full day in office as president, President Clinton called the new Russian leader to tell him that he was "off to a good start" and that his appointment was "encouraging for democracy." Secretary of State Madeleine Albright soon said that she was impressed by his "can-do approach."
Despite this initial optimism from Clinton administration officials, however, Russia's transformation under Putin has begun to look like one step forward and two steps back. While the country is experiencing modest economic growth, largely attributable to windfalls from high oil prices and a cheap currency, its political system and its foreign policy are increasingly troubling. The "dictatorship of law" proclaimed by the Russian president seems to be taking shape as simply a more effective version of the semiauthoritarian system created by Yeltsin; justice is still dispensed selectively and is used in full force only against political opponents of the regime. Internationally, Moscow seems to be strengthening its ties with former Soviet allies such as North Korea while.......
